ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role prison as a forum played in the gradual acceptance of peaceful politics by the majority of those within the Irish Republican Movement. The mid 1970s and early 1980s in Northern Ireland are rightly remembered as being among the most violent years of the Troubles. The chapter argues that this period should also be considered as the beginning of the Republican Movements gradual advance towards the acceptance of peaceful politics. The chapter provides an understanding of how Irish Republicans, both mainstream and dissident, perceive the role which the prisons and prisoners played. The time spent incarcerated provided the inmates with an opportunity to assess the future of the Republican Movement, and their position within it. It allowed them the opportunity, either intentionally or unintentionally, to influence the future of the movement and for them to, at times, manoeuvre their way to the top.
